Snapshots of Time
by akurosa
Summary: He's reminding Chopper to breathe for the fourth time when Luffy declares that his soup is the best thing he's ever had, utterly sincerely despite having said the exact same thing about the pie this morning, and Sanji can't help grin back at his captain and think what dumb luck indeed. A prompt fic of ten themes.


**a/n: Words are courtesy of 100-prompts. livejournal 692. Html. Each theme has three sentences (three periods) and I tried just writing the first idea I got when I saw the word so the connection might only make sense in my own head. RL is keeping me busy but I will try to get back to all of you soon! Thanks and enjoy. Warnings for long sentences, mentions of torture, and no real plot/point. **

01. Defiant

"Where is the ship and your captain?" The voice asks the same question again and Zoro bares his teeth in a bloody mimicry of a grin. He won't say a word though he can imagine Nami, ever the pragmatist, yelling at him to just give up their location damn it, if that'll get them to stop making holes in you. As if on cue the knife in his shoulder digs deeper, half an inch away from permanently ruining mobility in his arm but Zoro's smirk grows wider and his silence longer as he waits for the marines to realize: he is Roronoa Zoro and he, like his swords, would break before he ever bends.

02. Powder

On the rare days it rains like the skies parted to give way to the sea, Vivi will pause in the halls of her home. Sometimes it will be due to a residual, irrational fear of unnatural 'miracle powder' that is less a blessing and more a curse. Mostly though, it is to press her forehead against the glass pane and breathe a whispered greeting that she trusts her friends will always hear.

03. Grateful

These barbarians (Nami-san, obviously, excluded) wouldn't know table manners if it walked up to them and punched them in the face. Sanji sighs when Luffy begins to shovel food into his mouth with a fork; it's just his luck to join a crew that swallows more often than they actually chew. He's reminding Chopper to breathe for the fourth time when Luffy declares that his soup is the best thing he's ever had, utterly sincerely despite having said the exact same thing about the pie this morning, and Sanji can't help grin back at his captain and think what dumb luck indeed.

04. Decent

The ever lurking sense of danger from her childhood instilled in Nami a habit to be always ready to leave, to fight, to run. It means she never lets herself be caught off guard and Zoro can take his advice for her to "unclench once in a while so you can unlodge that stick up your you-know" and _shove it_. He is not why Nami joins the trio for breakfast on Merry the following morning in her pajamas and fluffy slippers, not at all.

05. Union

Democracy has no place on a pirate ship where the captain's word is law and his order is absolute. Usopp knows this and yet he cannot help but bristle at Luffy's announcement that they will leave Merry behind. Or maybe, it is because Usopp knows this that he cannot help recoil in anger and possibly fear.

06. Cleansed

The first time after Sanji joined the crew and Luffy whined to Zoro until the latter agreed to shower together, the cook accidently inhaled his cigarette whole. His issue was less with showering together and more with Luffy and Zoro, of dumbass and muscle moss, of _Luffy_ _and Zoro._ When the two walked off, unaware of the Pit of Great Existential Crisis the cook was thrown into, it was Usopp who took pity and slapped a hand on Sanji's shoulder to tell him that one, Luffy was a Devil Fruit user and somebody had to make sure he didn't drown himself in the showers and two, thanks Sanji, excuse me while I go bleach my brain.

07. Go

Through blurry vision, Robin stares at the boy who just declared war on the world for her, and the five others who stand beside him without a trace of fear in their eyes. After a lifetime of bad choices and wrong decisions, these six people are giving her another chance and Robin, with the strength that Saul passed on, finds the courage to surrender. If her heart had whispered _stay _and her head had ordered _leave_, now, she listens to her friends who say _come back_.

08. Shame

Chopper as a doctor, Zoro as a swordsman, Sanji as a cook; they all have principles, promises, parts of themselves they would rather die than forfeit. Nami is different because she bounds herself to no such rules. Her honor code is much more flexible, much more arbitrary and that much more dangerous.

09. Objective

The key is to focus on the present; Brook hums Bink's Sake under his breath and concentrates on the lull of his own voice, on the next note of the song. He is still alone and the fog has yet to lift but maybe tomorrow will be different. Maybe tomorrow will bring something miraculous like sunshine or laughter, but for now, Brook hums Bink's Sake all over again.

10. Strength

The very first time Zoro visits her grave, he is two weeks late. He didn't mean to come except he messed up his footwork on the seventh step again and twisted around to shout at her to stop laughing … and remembered. With a white hilt sword instead of flowers, he stands, staring at the name carved in stone for a very long time, and when the tears fall, he isn't ashamed.


End file.
